Pettitte Solid In Yankees Win

The Yankees (23-21) bats finally looked like they had some life in them on Wednesday night. The Yanks only had seven base hits but three of those were home runs and timely base hits propelled them to an 8-3 win over the Kansas City Royals (17-26). Andy Pettitte looked great in his third start back in pinstripes. In seven innings of work Pettitte gave up two runs on seven hits and struck out eight, throwing an economical 98 pitches in the outing.

It was a different story for Kansas City starter Will Smith. Smith got banged up for five runs on six hits in his short 3 1/3 inning outing surrendering three home runs along the way.

Two of those home runs came off the bat of Alex Rodriguez. Alex hit a two run homer in the first inning and a solo shot in the third inning. Those two homers put A-Rod at seven for the season uncharacteristically low for him, we’ll see if that power can continue going forward.

Curtis Granderson hit a homer in the first inning as well; a solo shot, his team leading 14th of the year.

The Yankees other four runs strangely came via outs. In the third inning Mark Teixeira grounded into a double play scoring a run. In the fifth inning Teixeira walked in a run then Cano followed with a fielder’s choice RBI ground out and in the eighth Andruw Jones walked in a run.

Derek Jeter went 3-5 with a double; the third hit also tied him with Paul Waner for 15th on the all time hits list with 3,152 hits.

Billy Butler put Kansas City on the board in the fourth inning with a solo home run, his ninth. Catcher Mitch Maier hit a solo homer off of Pettitte in the fifth, his second. Kansas City would add a run in the ninth thanks to an Eric Hosmer RBI double.

The Yankees will travel to the west coast and play again Friday night against the Oakland Athletics. Ivan Nova (4-2 5.69) starts for the Yankees while Tyson Ross (2-4 5.73) goes for the A’s. Pregame starts at 9:30, first pitch at 10:05 right here on 104.5 The Team ESPN Radio.